Don’t Blame Biggs For His Stupidity, He Does Come From Arizona
Arizona has some of the worst air quality in the U.S., the state has a poor health care system, it is ranked the worst place to be a teacher, it has a high crime rate and it is one of only eight states where a governor has been thrown out of office and that may help explain Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
How else can one explain how the most conservative, right wingest, wingnuttiest member of congress who swore to uphold the constitution, remains the staunchest of the staunch defenders of trump who clearly plotted to undermine the electoral system and planned and cheered on the Capitol rioters so he could stay in the White House. How else can one understand why a member of the Congress, Biggs, would continue to insist that trump won the 2020 presidential election when there has been no evidence of voter fraud. Maybe the answer has to do with Biggs’ reported request that trump issue blanket pardons for Biggs and anyone else involved in the big lie and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Thirteen days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Biggs issued a long statement in thanks and support for trump.
“President Trump seized his opportunity as our nation’s chief executive with tremendous enthusiasm and commitment to the promises he made to the American people. He secured our border. He protected life and religious freedom,” said Biggs who curiously made no reference to the deadly violence at the Capitol. “Despite the challenges he experienced, President Trump was one of the most successful presidents of our great nation. I am grateful for President Trump’s leadership, his commitment to his promises, his unwavering belief in the values that have made our nation great, and his friendship. It was an honor to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives while he was president, and I wish him nothing but the best as he transitions from his role as America’s Commander in Chief.”
Biggs, 63, was elected to congress in 2016 after Rep. Matt Salmon, a Republican, retired to run unsuccessfully for governor. Biggs won the GOP primary that year by a whopping 27 votes over Christine Jones and went on to win a seat in congress in a district where Republicans have been in charge for all but one term since 1953 and where Democrats are considered worse than rattlesnakes. Once in Congress, Biggs joined the arch-conservative Freedom Caucus and in 2019 he was named head of the caucus, whose members have all been lockstep behind trump and the big lie about voter fraud.
As a young man, Biggs went on a mission to Japan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and learned to speak fluent Japanese. He later earned his undergraduate degree in Asian studies from Brigham Young University, his law degree from the University of Arizona and a master’s in political science from Arizona State University. Biggs’ life changed for ever after he hit it big in 1993, when he won $10 million in the American Family Publishers sweepstakes. That meant he could give up his law practice and concentrate on politics, serving as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011 and a member of the Arizona Senate from 2011 to 2017 before his election to congress.
Biggs is in the sights of the House Jan. 6 committee because, after the 2020 election, he was one of the first to text then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on ways to keep trump as president. Biggs was reportedly one of 11 House Republicans attending a Dec. 21, 2021, meeting at the White House on how to get more people to the Jan. 6 rally and soon armed assault, and how Vice President Mike Pence could swing the election to trump. Biggs has defied a House subpoena to testify.
You would think that Biggs would lay low so that he doesn’t get into even more hot water with the House committee. To the contrary, Biggs has doubled down on his claims about voter fraud, to the point where he has asked the House Oversight Committee to begin immediate hearings on alleged, illegal activities outlined in a crazy documentary film, “2000 Mules.” The so-called documentary has been panned by all but the most acidic trump supporters. It was directed by Dinesh D’Souza, a conspiracy theorist who pleaded guilty to a federal charge of using a “straw donor” to make the illegal campaign contribution. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house and a $30,000 fine, but not to worry, as he was later issued a pardon by trump. The film claimed that Biden won Michigan and Georgia because of “ballot harvesting,” a claim that has been roundly debunked and ridiculed by no less an authority than trump’s former Attorney General William Barr.
Biggs was questioned in October at a House hearing on Republican claims about voter fraud in Arizona. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked Biggs if he accepted the findings of the GOP-led review of ballots in Maricopa County, which affirmed Biden’s victory.
Raskin asked, “Who won the election in Arizona? Donald Trump or Joe Biden?”
Biggs responded with “We don’t know because as the audit demonstrates, Mr. Raskin, there are a lot of issues with this election that took place.”
At which Raskin’s patience had worn paper thin when he told Biggs, “This is the problem we have. Unfortunately, we have one of the great political parties which has followed him off of the ledge of this electoral lunacy. It is dangerous for democracy.”
Yo, Biggs, we do know who won and it wasn’t trump, the wannabe il duce.
Biggs multi-tasks on the absurd. He was one of 18 House Republicans who voted this month against a resolution to support Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Support around the world for Sweden and Finland to join NATO gained momentum after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Also, in April, Biggs and nine other GOP House members voted against the Ukraine lend-lease bill, which makes it easier for the U.S. to send military assistance to Ukraine during Russia’s bloody invasion.
Among his more dubious achievements, Biggs voted for a law to allow hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. He also voted for a bill to allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms. Biggs voted against a bill to prevent trump from pulling the U.S. out of NATO.
Moving right on, Biggs voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, because it would prevent people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm. Biggs voted against the Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
And of course, he voted against impeaching trump, twice. and he opposed the use of masks and social distancing to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and he backed quack cures for the pandemic, like hydroxychloroquine, despite scientific evidence it was potentially dangerous.
There are many reasons to call Biggs weird but towards the top is his endorsement of a Republican state Senate candidate who believes the devil stole the 2020 election from trump. The candidate is former state Sen. David Farnsworth, another avowed trump supporter and promoter of the big lie about voter fraud who is running for the GOP nomination against House Speaker Rusty Bowers.
There is method to the madness as Biggs was in high-retribution mode because Bowers committed the cardinal sin of telling the truth before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by trump supporters. Bowers told the panel that Biggs, trump and others had called him repeatedly to pressure him to overturn the results of Biden’s win in Arizona in the 2020 presidential race.
Biggs said Farnsworth is a “proven conservative who will fight for the conservative values that make Mesa a great place to call home.” True to form, trump also declared that “Bowers must be defeated, and highly respected David Farnsworth is the man to do it.”
“This is a real conspiracy headed up by the devil himself,” Farnsworth said during a recent Clean Elections debate for the Senate seat.
Farnsworth, who is adamant that trump won Arizona and the rest of the nation,explained the conspiracy against trump in biblical terms.
“In the book of Mormon in Ether Chapter 8, the synopsis of the chapter says … modern gentiles are warned of a secret combination which seeks to destroy the freedom of our lands. And so this is much larger than just the 2020 election,” Farnsworth said. “This is a real conspiracy headed up by the devil himself. And this may sound crazy, I realize, to some people, but when I used to talk about it 25 years ago people would shake their heads and they thought I was crazy but nowadays people are saying, ‘wow’. They’re talking about the swamp. It’s deep and it’s wide and it’s been going on for a long, long time.”
Farnsworth also has said the Arizona state Department of Child Safety may be involved in child sex trafficking and that QAnon, with its theories of Democratic pedophiles, is a “credible group.”
Now about the Grand Canyon State, Gov. Evan Mecham was one of just eight governors in U.S. history who have been removed from office through impeachment and conviction. Mecham, a Republican, was impeached in 1988 after a state grand jury convicted him on six felony charges of fraud, perjury and filing false documents. He served 15 months as governor. Among the charges was falsifying campaign finance reports to conceal a loan to his campaign of $350,000.
The American Lung Association reported that Arizona has some of the worst air quality in the U.S., with some areas experiencing 39 high ozone days per year. Phoenix ranked seventh for year-round particle pollution and 10th for short term particle pollution in 2020.
A report by CNBC found that Arizona has a poor health care system compared to the rest of the country, with a shortage of staff and hospital beds. The state spends $79 per person on public health, is one of the lowest rates in the country.
Arizona also is considered rather dangerous, especially for robberies. For example, 19,000 cars were stolen in 2019 and more than 31,000 homes were robbed.
Want more reasons to explain Biggs? The personal finance website, WalletHub, determined that Arizona is the worst state to be a teacher because of the low public-school spending per student, low teacher salaries and a high pupil-to-teacher ratio.
CNBC also compiles a list of the best and worst states for business and the best and worst places to live, with Arizona holding up the bottom in both categories. The report considered factors like health care, crime rates, environmental quality and child care and inclusiveness and protection against discrimination. Arizona, however, is not the top state for brain eating amoeba infections. The state with the highest number of recorded infections is Texas with 40 since 1962, followed by Florida with 36 and California with 10. Arizona had only eight cases since 1962, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Then again maybe Biggs has an undiagnosed brain amoeba infection.